Georgia public safety commissioner said woman's car struck from rear as she made legal lane change

SAVANNAH — A Florida woman died Wednesday night after a Savannah-based Georgia State Patrol trooper’s vehicle collided with hers on Interstate 95 in McIntosh County.

About 7:45 p.m., trooper Bobby Black was driving his patrol car north in the inside lane of I-95 about three miles south of the McIntosh-Liberty county line when he struck a 2014 Ford Edge driven by Sue Lynn Risley, of Titusville, said State Patrol Col. Mark W. McDonough, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

Risley had been traveling north in the middle lane, signaled to the left to pass traffic and moved from the middle to the inside lane.

“All indications at this time are that Ms. Risley made a legal lane change,” McDonough said.

The front, right portion of the patrol car struck the rear of Risley’s vehicle, pushing it to the left. Her vehicle overturned several times traveling across to the east shoulder of the roadway before coming to rest, McDonough said.

She died at the scene.

The State Patrol’s crash reconstruction team and the Office of Professional Standards are conducting an investigation into the wreck, and they are working hand-in-hand with the McIntosh County District Attorney’s Office, McDonough said.

“I’d like to express my sincere sorrow for Ms. Risley’s family, and commit and give my word that the Department of Public Safety will do its best and do the right thing,” McDonough said.

Black, 41, who has been assigned to Savannah’s Night Hawk DUI Task Force since Feb. 1, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing.